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Living Healthy: Are you tired of feeling tired?

With our often stressful, busy lives, we all experience tiredness, from time to time. Following some relaxation and a good night's sleep however, the tiredness usually wanes, leaving us feeling refreshed and ready to face another day. For some people though, tiredness becomes a chronic problem that negatively affects their quality of life.

Usually, tiredness is due to a combination of causes; it can have physical triggers, such as a recent illness, pregnancy or breastfeeding, or it can be triggered by emotions and stressful situations, for example a bereavement, moving house, work or family issues.

In addition to well-defined triggers, there are many other factors that can increase tiredness, or stop you from regaining your energy when you are weary and run down.

Being overweight is one such factor. If you are overweight, your body has to work harder than normal to carry out everyday activities. If you are very underweight, you are also disadvantaged because you have less muscle strength and will tire more quickly.

Feeling permanently worn-out can lead you to avoid physical activity. However, as you become more unfit, you will be even more tired when you do eventually try to do something, and this can turn into a vicious circle.

Certain professions or stages in your life can also bring about fatigue - for example people such as shift workers, nurses, doctors and nursing mothers have unusual or disturbed sleep patterns and therefore can find it difficult to get an energising night's sleep.

Here are some quick fixes to help you shake off the sleepiness:

We need bright light to stimulate the serotonin in our brain to make us alert. A ten-minute walk around the block (when the weather allows) or breakfast taken on the balcony or in the garden can do wonder for our energy levels. Sniff peppermint. The smell of peppermint (available as an extract in supermarkets and drugstores) awakens your senses. Snack on a mix of protein and carbohydrates. A recent study showed that listening to music is an effective way to improve energy.It suggested that rhythmic music possibly reduces energy-sapping muscle tension. Take a short nap.

In the long term, you should aim to improve your sleep by keeping to regular sleep and rising times and ensuring that your bedroom is a comfortable and quiet haven of rest.

Reduce the amount of caffeinated and alcoholic beverages you consume. Do not eat or drink a lot late at night, and try to gradually reduce the time you spend 'napping' during the day.regular exercise will make you feel less tired and more energetic - start small and increase the time and intensity of your exercise routine slowly, over weeks and months.